The policies and guidelines for building NLM’s collection are described in the Collection Development Guidelines of the National Library of Medicine. The Guidelines are reviewed and updated periodically to reflect emerging changes in health care and advances in medical research. NLM coordinates its collection development policies and retention practices with those of the Library of Congress (LC) and the National Agricultural Library (NAL).

Additional Collection Branch Resources

• MEDLINE® Journal Selection
• Journal Selection for PubMed Central (PMC)
• MedlinePlus Selection Guidelines

Last Reviewed: May 21, 2024